NOTES

115. In classical mythology Geryon was a threebodied giant,
slain by Hercules as one of his labors. Here he is the guardian
of the eighth circle, and a symbol of fraud. His threefold
aspect places him with so many other perversions of the Trinity
represented in the Inferno. ^

16. In the Middle Ages the Turks and Tartars were renowned for
their weaving. ^

18. The Lydian maiden Arachne challenged the goddess of fine
arts, Minerva (Pallas Athena), to a weaving contest. Minerva tore
up Arachne's perfect cloth and changed her to a spider. ^

2128. In medieval times the beaver was supposed to angle for fish with its tail. Beavers existed in southern Europe at that time. ^

31. Other than Canto IX, line 133, this is the only turn to the right in Hell. ^

5960. The arms of the Gianfigliazzi, a family belonging to the
Blacks. ^

67. Vitaliano's identity is uncertain, but he is almost surely
from Padua. ^

72. The "sovereign knight" is the prominent Florentine banker,
Giovanni Buiamonte of the wealthy Becchi family. Honored with the
title of "knight" in 1298, he went bankrupt and died impoverished
in 1310. ^

106108. Phaethon, Son of Apollo, lost control of the chariot of the sun, "scorching the sky" with the Milky Way. When the
burning chariot threatened to set fire to the earth, Zeus killed
him with a thunderbolt. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book II. ^

109111. Icarus tried to escape from Crete on wings crafted by his father, Daedalus. When he flew too close to the sun,
the wax melted and he drowned in the Aegean Sea. Both Phaethon
and Icarus were prime examples of pride in the Middle Ages. ^

136. Compare this with the previous metaphorical use of the
arrow at the approach of Phlegyas (VIII 1316). ^